Association
by SoulOfAFangirl684
Summary: Jesse learns something about his new friend that both surprises him and manages to reinforce just how much they have in common.


**Before we really get started: Yes, you read that right. I watched most of Yu-Gi-Oh GX dubbed, so I do tend to lean towards using their English names. Nobody spontaneously combust or anything.**

**Now that that's out of the way… During season three, Jaden became a truly fascinating character to me, and I've wanted to write a little something to explore that for a while. Some of this is up to interpretation and thus, may not be strictly canon, (the basis of the medical treatments are 100% bullshit, but… this is Yu-Gi-Oh GX. Actual canon in their universe is that Jaden sent a bunch of cards into space and they came back with superpowers. So…) but was formed on the basis of the canon things we learn about his past. This is set very early on in season three, before they realize the effects Viper's bio-bands are having on the students. Like, let's say Jesse and Jaden have only known each other for a week or two. **

**Association**

"You see anything, Ruby?" Jesse tried to keep his voice low but still attracted a few odd looks from other students passing by. He smiled awkwardly at them to smooth things over but turned back to the spirit wound around his shoulders, invisible to all but him—and one other. But his friend just shook her head and made a sound of denial.

Jesse didn't appear disappointed, however. Far from it, his face broke out into an even wider grin. "Guess there's only one place he could be then."

The two began the trek up to the roof. The one staircase that could take them all the way up was on the other side of the school, and as Jesse walked down hallway after hallway, passing small gatherings of students in every one, there were quite a few friendly nods of acknowledgement sent his way. His transfer to Duel Academy had certainly not been a rough one, if these early days were anything to go by. Everyone he'd met had been pretty welcoming—though he was sure the exposure from dueling Jaden in front of them all on his very first day had helped. His new friend seemed to be some sort of minor celebrity around here, and besides, you could tell a lot about someone from the way they dueled. A lot of these kids probably felt like they _did_ know him already. But in general, the atmosphere around here was just a lot lighter than the one at North Academy.

At last, he climbed the last step and opened the door out onto the roof, blinking in the sudden sunshine. Sure enough, he could see his friend on the far side, stretched out on his back and snoozing away. As he drew closer, he spotted the smaller form of Winged Kuriboh slumped over on Jaden's chest, lost in his own peaceful slumber.

Jesse stopped a few feet away. Before he could say anything to get Jaden's attention, Ruby jumped down and began stalking closer to their targets. He watched his partner's antics curiously—all his Crystal Beasts were usually pretty laid-back outside of battle, but Ruby Carbuncle had been showing a surprisingly playful side around Jaden's partner—sighing when Ruby suddenly pounced on the other creature, startling him awake. The two rolled away, a blur of wings and claws, but Jesse let them go at it. He was sure they'd be fine. Probably…

Winged Kuriboh's dislodgement brought Jaden back to his senses as well. Jesse didn't know how to describe the sensation of coming into contact with a duel spirit, exactly. They had warmth but not weight… varying levels of solidity based on factors Jesse still couldn't pinpoint… It was complicated. But he knew Jaden would have been able to feel the difference.

The other boy sat up, looking around with bleary eyes. He, too, took in the scuffling monsters and apparently thought nothing of it, turning to his human friend instead. "Oh, hey, Jess." He yawned. "What's up?"

Jesse grinned back easily. "You weren't in class, so I came looking for ya."

Jaden yawned again, punctuating this one with a stretch. He still seemed unconcerned. "Oh yeah… I forgot all about it. Did you guys go over anything cool?"

Jesse took a seat beside him, his smile quirked up at the sides a little. He _forgot_? About a class he was supposed to be at every single weekday? "We mostly went over continuous spells—you know, when they can be played, which cards can get rid of 'em…"

Jaden nodded absently. Jesse couldn't say he really blamed him for his apathy. Duel Academy's curriculum paralleled his own school's pretty closely. So much of what they learned in their theory classes could be picked up through practice too. His new friend certainly dueled enough to have a handle on all the different kinds of cards. That wasn't what he was worried about. "Hey, Jaden? Don't your teachers care that you skip class so much? …Or sleep through so many of the ones you _do_ go to?"

Jaden rolled his shoulders back, considering this. "Not so much anymore. I used to get detention all the time, but I think they've kinda just given up." He offered up a reassuring smile. "I ace all the practical exams, so I'm not worried."

A few feet away, the scuffle between their partners ended abruptly, with no clear winner. They were both momentarily distracted when Ruby darted away, Winged Kuriboh fluttering after her indignantly. But ultimately, the two boys turned back to each other. Jesse could feel a mystery before him, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"So… what do you do? When you don't go to class?"

Jaden's smile turned sly. "Why? You thinking of ruining your perfect record?"

Jesse couldn't help the sheepish blush that rose on his cheeks. "It ain't _perfect_." He could hear his own accent getting thicker, as it tended to do when he was flustered. He wasn't lying… He wasn't the type to get hung up on grades. There was no question he was a better student than Jaden, though. And they shared enough classes for both boys to have realized this already.

His friend's smile relaxed. Perhaps it was because he'd just woken up, but Jesse thought he looked a little more… subdued than usual. Jaden expanded without any further prompting, "It's not that exciting anyway. Sometimes I go through my deck and strategize. Mostly I just nap. Not that different than if I went to class, really."

He noticed Jaden avert his eyes back towards the spirits—now locked in a complicated, yet fierce, bout of tag—as his expression furrowed. "So you basically just sleep all day? Isn't that… I mean, are you really that tired all the time?"

Jaden made a soft, thoughtful noise, his eyes still turned away, and Jesse worried for a moment that he'd overstepped some invisible boundary. When Jaden did turn back to him, it was his turn to look a little sheepish. There was a measure of… insecurity, almost, that Jesse never thought he'd see on the face of the boy before him. "This might sound kinda weird…"

He did his best to look reassuring. "Jay… All my closest friends are the spirits of trading cards. 'Weird' is kinda my normal."

It was all too true. He felt like people had been comparing him to Jaden ever since he'd arrived—and they _were_ alike in many ways. But back home… Sure, he may have been recognized as a talented duelist, but first and foremost he was 'that kid who talks to his cards.' People around here may have thought Jaden was a little strange too… but he was strange _in addition _to his other qualities. Where Jesse was from, he was just strange. In the short time he'd been here, he'd witnessed firsthand Jaden's magnetic qualities. So many people flocked to him… He had a hard time picturing him caring about what anyone thought.

"It's too quiet," he blurted out.

Jesse blinked. "Uh, sorry… What is?"

He sighed. "The Slifer dorm. I know people complain about how out of the way it is and how the rooms and equipment aren't as nice as the others… and I really don't mind any of that… but at night, it's just too… quiet."

Jesse took that in for a moment and realized that, even up here, the sounds of the students gathered in the courtyard below carried enough to be a low—but constant—murmur underneath their conversation. (And as there were free periods to be had throughout the day, he was sure that was always the case.) He kept processing this, long enough to know his silence was getting a little uncomfortable, but still came up blank. He'd always found the nighttime quiet to be a welcome respite after a long day. "Huh. I'm guessin' you couldn't just get one of those little noise machines?"

"Yeah… I think it would bother Syrus—he's pretty… serious about getting enough sleep. Besides, they don't sell them on the island—I don't think so anyway—so I'd have to fill out an order form with the school and answer a bunch of questions and…" He brought a hand up to the back of his head. "It's just a long story."

"What is?"

Jaden seemed to realize he might have said too much just as Jesse asked, but apparently came to the conclusion that he could trust his new friend. He got to his feet and made his way over to the railing at the edge of the roof, with Jesse on his heels. The two leaned up against the edge, looking down on the people below. Just as he'd hoped, with the pressure to make eye contact gone, Jaden's tongue loosened up.

"When I was a kid, I used to get these… nightmares."

Jesse's eyebrows rose. "Yeah?"

"They're kinda hard to explain… I mean, nothing really _happened_ in them. I was just somewhere really cold and dark. Sometimes I thought I could hear someone calling my name… but it was usually just… all this nothingness. Anyway. I'd always wake up screaming, but I could never remember what exactly had scared me so much."

He glanced over quickly to see Jesse hanging on his words. The boy exhaled deeply. "Wow. That sounds awful. Did they go away?"

Jaden hummed thoughtfully. "Uh… yeah, but not on their own. My parents lost patience with it real fast. I bet they thought I was just doing it for attention. But when their promises and speeches didn't work, they started taking me to all sorts of doctors. I started meeting with a therapist once a week… then twice… then twice _and _they prescribed sleeping pills."

"_Jeez_, Jay…" Jesse's interest had turned to concern, and Jaden smiled a little uncomfortably.

"Yeah. Nothing worked. They finally took me to see a surgeon at some fancy hospital who went in and did something to my brain—"

"_Whoa!_ What?!" Jesse exclaimed before he could stop himself. His eyes flickered over Jaden's face as if he expected to see a scar that hadn't been there before.

He was treated to that awkward little smile again. "He didn't have to cut me open or anything. They used some sort of laser… I don't know; I never really got all the details. But it worked. The nightmares stopped." And his parents went back to working just as many hours as they used to…

"Huh…" Neither boy said anything for a moment. "Uh, I don't mean to be dense, but… what does all this have to do with your dorm being too quiet?"

"Oh, right! I guess I forgot that part. There was this follow-up part of the treatment. They sent us this machine that had to run while I slept… I think the lasers from that did something with the ones they'd already shot into my brain…" Jesse blinked, very lost. Jaden shrugged. "Anyway, it made this noise as it worked. And that's what I started falling asleep to each night when the nightmares started going away. The place in my nightmares had been so cold and dark and empty… _Quiet_. I guess I came to associate total silence with nightmares."

"Wow," Jesse answered when the story was complete. "I… I don't really know what to say."

Jaden turned suddenly so that his back was to the railing and the activity below. Jesse straightened up as he plastered an unburdened smile across his face, his posture relaxing to make it look like he didn't have a care in the world—and never had. "Hey, cheer up! Everything's fine now. So you don't have to say anything."

His tone sure sounded back to normal, but Jesse wasn't sure that qualified as 'everything being fine' anymore. He turned to check in with their partners and found Winged Kuriboh slumped over, fast asleep. The way Ruby was poking around him in surprise told him that this must have been an abrupt change. Poor thing must be exhausted… He had no doubt he must keep Jaden company during his sleepless nights. Speaking of… He looked back to see Jaden watching the scene with soft eyes… and noticed the dark shadows underneath them for the first time.

"You have an actual free period now, right?"

"Hmm? Oh, uh, yeah. I think so…" He watched Jaden try to mentally run through his schedule, lose track, and give up. "Why?"

"Let's go back to your dorm, okay?"

Jaden blinked at him blankly. "Sure."

They went and collected their partners before starting the long journey down through the academy and across campus. Jesse couldn't help noticing how even more people called out to them now that Jaden was by his side. Jesse grinned at him. "Guess I shouldn't be surprised you're Mr. Popular."

Jaden blushed again. "Honestly? I don't even know most their names. And they only know me from my duels."

"Still, it seems nice. Do you old friends ever come visit, see you in all your newfound glory?"

Jesse was still joking, but Jaden's smile faltered. "I… didn't really have any friends before coming here."

Jesse opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally came up with, "Oh."

"Yeah," Jaden answered, that awkward smile back in place. (Mentally, Jesse kicked himself, wondering how many times he was going to make his new friend uncomfortable in one day.) "That's kind of how I really got into dueling in the first place. It was a bridge between me and the neighborhood kids. I'd come home from school and duel whoever was available. None of those 'friendships' ever really extended to the school day, though. The other kids all thought I was a bit… odd." His tone returned to that quiet, reflective state just briefly. "That's probably why I've never been a great student either. I never liked school much. Another association thing, I guess."

Something welled up in Jesse's chest. They had even more in common than he'd realized. Maybe a little too forcefully, he jumped in, "I know what you mean."

Jaden gave him a quizzical look, his eyes open once more, so Jesse forged ahead. He found himself rushing headfirst into emotions and bits of his past that he'd never shared with anyone before. Their approaches may have been different, but the driving forces were painfully similar. "I told you my Crystal Beasts were my family. Before coming here… They were kinda _all _I had. My parents and I get along fine… but they've never really understood me. I've always been able to see monster spirits. It just took me a while to realize nobody else could. So all the kids my age thought I was weird too. Which is probably why _I_ always tried my best at school, even if I'm not a good studier… I probably sound like a suck-up, but it meant all my teachers really liked me… It used to take the edge off of not having any human friends. I just… I _get_ it."

Jaden smiled, something about it still a little fragile. "Yeah. I can tell."

They had reached the red dorm. Jaden was right, Jesse realized as they entered the other boy's room. This time of day—or at a time when all its other occupants would be asleep—it _was_ awfully quiet. Jesse took a seat at the wobbly desk as Jaden carefully set down the still-slumbering Winged Kuriboh onto the bunk above his. "What now?"

Jesse gestured to the boy's own bed as if it should be obvious. "Your turn, of course."

Did he imagine Jaden stiffening ever so slightly? "Uh, what?"

"I figured it's the least I could do. Since I interrupted your nap and all."

This time there was definitely a flicker of fear in those eyes. "I thought we were going to go over strategies or have a rematch or something."

Jesse smiled softly and said in an equally soft voice, "Jaden, it's okay. I'm going to sit right here and go through my deck. If the nightmares do come back—and I'm sure they won't—you won't be alone."

To punctuate this, he turned and began spreading out his cards on the surface before him. He was aware of Jaden standing frozen behind him for a moment… and then slowly removing his shoes and Slifer jacket and crawling into bed. He heard a soft, "Thank you," behind him but only nodded in acknowledgement. Jesse truly believed that fears could be unlearned the same way they initially took root in a person's mind, and he wanted his friend to start finding comfort in quietude as well.

He only turned around once his first mock duel with himself was complete. He was unsurprised to find Jaden already passed out. And was pleased to see the peaceful expression on his face.

**Review please!**

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! GX. **

**This ended up only covering a fraction of the things I wanted to go over… Originally, it was going to be a lot more about Jaden reflecting on his own past… right up through the point where he reconnects with Yubel and has to get used to sharing his soul. But then I used Jesse to introduce this story… and before I knew it, he was carrying the whole thing, and it would have felt weird to keep cutting back and forth. Oh well. I guess that just means I'll have to write another one. **


End file.
